1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a character processing apparatus and, in particular, to a character processing apparatus having a digit place alignment function to align and display an input numeral string.
2. Description or the Related Art
In a Japanese word processor which is a character processing apparatus, digit place alignment handling has been performed as in the following procedure. That is, first, the position of a numeral string to be aligned and input is specified by performing tab setting. When a numeral string is to be input, a digit place alignment key provided on a keyboard is pressed and as a result, a decimal point of the numeral string is aligned with a tab setting position as a reference and is input. In an English text word processor, a decimal tab key is pressed after tab setting and then a numeral string is input. Thus, the input numeral string is aligned around the decimal point in the same way as described above.
In the above-mentioned conventional word processor, however, since a special key for digit place alignment must be provided on a keyboard, such a word processor is complex in construction and expensive. During operation, an operator must press the special key (digit place alignment key or decimal tab key) for digit alignment prior to each time the operator aligns a numeral string and therefore a smooth input operation is hindered.
An arrangement is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 305454/1988, in which the number of digits after the decimal point are counted when numeric values and numeric values containing a decimal point are aligned at each tab position and input to find a maximum value, and vertical grid lines can be input automatically between the numeric values according to the maximum value determined.